H*Flow : Part 1 -The conditions of living well.

In the initial installment of my Human Flows Control series or H*Flow for short,
https://dlofr.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/hflow-control-reversal-a-quick-introduction/

I explained how rural exodus had shaped the last 150+ years in most countries and
particularly modern civilization ones. How the masses flooded the cities in the hope of
benefiting from  the perceived marvels of technology.

Let’s now turn our attention to begin with to the promises of the Modern State, the essentials, what has been brought about from the village organization that emerged from our species’ shift from hunter-gatherers to herders and farmers.
In essence, the hunters-gatherers behave as any animal group would. Maximum care possible was given to group members but living conditions sometimes brought along losing members and even in the most dire situations, absorption, dismantlement and disparition of the tribe. In opposition, creating and stocking goods just as maintaining a herd meant that tough times could be spanned witout undue hardships and everyone kept alive. This also meant that ressources were stockpiled locally and amounted to a treasure  to those whom had not picked up the trick. So attacks and pillaging became the norm.

Two factors then appeared. One, the danger under which came the village at times brought about regroupments into bigger units. Second as farming abilities and survival got easier, natality was up. For both of these reasons, villages turned into cities over time and nascent civilization came to be. Civitas is the Latin word for city and civis that of the citizen. The greater number of inhabitants favored protection of the group. As ressources grew, some in the city could be assigned to non-productive jobs whole time such as guarding and defending the place.

From that time to more or less the end of the European feodal system main era known as the Middle-Ages, the three benefits of what was then the standard form of the State, endured from Greco-Roman times as :

-Protection from exterior aggression or Army;
-Protection from internal aggression or Police;
-Fair and equal treatment for each or Justice.

Some periods saw more but overall, this is what you got. Then, taxation was refined. Taxes had always been around; the New Testament contains a parable attributed to Jesus where he refers to the Needle’s eye, in reality a door in the Jerusalem fortifications dedicated to applying levy tax to incoming merchandises. From 1400 AD in most places, efficient systems of tax collection in countries which covered important surfaces emerged and flourished. It made the State much more wealthy and with it came new responsabilities. Modern expectations were added to the original list namely :

-Education
-Healthcare
– possibly some sort of  long term revenue insurance as in Social Security or Welfare.

* Let’s make a necessary remark : the economic hiccups and crisis have made the fulfillment of these services into a burden for most Modern States which is one more reason to consider reverse H*Flow. *

As more people gathered in big agglomerations, these services have been concentrated as well. The rationale is evident and yet it just happens that in many of the concerned countries, the rural terms of service on the above have been on the way down. By the magic of big numbers a.k.a. economies of scale, concentration is encouraged and smaller say dispensaries as in the Health folder have often been sacrificed. If your local maternity is a two hour drive away, how well served are you by your public Health system? And since these economies of scale are the exact same that applied to the world market gave us economic globalization, one can envision how leaders and more often managers of the community/nation are justified to follow that particular process.

The severe dichotomy that opposes maintening those acquired rights or services over an entire national territory and turning to macro-economics at the same time is worrisome at best.
It denotes a schyzophrenia of governance performing a dangerous balancing act.

What if there was a road ahead that could reconcile the opposing viewpoints of the government and the people? What are the minimum acceptable conditions that are required in order for a population to remain in the country and not invade the urban centers any more than is now the case. Are they the same in Norway and Sierra Leone or Sri Lanka? Can a global plan be set up to stop the present human migrations to the City and what does it involve?

We will examine those points in our next study of H*Flow : Part 2 -The modern tools for modern life.

In the meanwhile, hoping the best for all, Tay.